Africa, the Looted Continent
October 10, 2022--Africa. The birthplace of "Homo Sapiens." The land of plenty. The origin of farming. The richest region in terms of natural resources. And human capital. Home to over 1.3 billion humans, continues to be looted.
With 500 million plus people living in extreme poverty, Africa has also been transformed in a sort of grave for half of the world's victims of terror. The continent is also the land with the highest suicide rate on Earth. Why?
Gold, diamonds, lithium...
The illegal exploitation of precious metals and minerals such as gold, silver and diamonds, are fuelling the extremists with significant sources of income, and benefiting the groups that control extraction, and trafficking routes -The vast Sahel region in particular has become "home to some of the most active and deadly terrorist groups", says the Head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
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Source: allafrica.com
World Bank-African Governments Urgently Need to Restore Macro-Economic Stability and Protect the Poor in a Context of Slow Growth, High Inflation
October 4, 2022--Global headwinds are slowing Africa's economic growth as countries continue to contend with rising inflation, hindering progress on poverty reduction.
The risk of stagflation comes at a time when high interest rates and debt are forcing African governments to make difficult choices as they try to protect people's jobs, purchasing power and development gains.
According to the World Bank's latest Africa's Pulse, a biannual analysis of the near-term regional macroeconomic outlook, economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is set to decelerate from 4.1% in 2021 to 3.3% in 2022, a downward revision of 0.3 percentage points since April's Pulse forecast, mainly as a result of a slowdown in global growth, including flagging demand from China for commodities produced in Africa.
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Source: worldbank.org
Zimbabwe: List of Exchange Traded Funds On the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
September 27, 2022--In Zimbabwe, investing in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) is witnessing traction, and various ETFs of different types are emerging. It is easy to invest in an ETF but before investing, ensure that you choose the one that suits your financial plan the most.
Investing in ETFs or exchange-traded funds is equivalent to investing in all constituents that are part of an index directly.
According to Forbes, the yields or returns generated by ETFs replicate the benchmark index. It gives investors an opportunity to benefit from diversity, flexibility and scope for growth that comes from ETFs being traded on stock exchanges.
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Source: allafrica.com/
African Domestic Bond Fund lists on Botswana Stock Exchange
September 21, 2022--The African Domestic Bond Fund (ADBF), an exchange-traded fund, has been listed in the local Pula currency on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE). The listing, on 15 September 2022, follows the Fund's primary US dollar listing on the Mauritius Stock Exchange in 2018.
The Pula-denominated listing will offer investors an innovative tool to gain exposure to African local currency fixed income.
ADBF is the first multinational fixed income exchange-traded fund in Africa. It was launched by the African Development Bank as part of initiatives to strengthen African economies by reducing their dependency on foreign-currency-denominated debt, increasing the range of available financing options, and acting as a catalyst for regional market integration.
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Source: afdb.org
Concerns grow as Nigeria's inflation surges to 17-year high
September 15, 2022--Nigeria's consumer inflation surged to 20.5% in August, its statistics agency said Thursday, signalling more hardship for citizens and businesses in Africa's largest economy
Nigeria's consumer inflation surged to a 17-year high in August 2022, its statistics agency said Thursday, signalling more hardship for citizens and businesses in Africa's largest economy.
The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported in its latest consumer price index that inflation rose to 20.5% in August, up from 19.6% in July this year and 17% in August last year.
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Source: abcnews.go.com
A new report signals progress on African countries' efforts toward readiness for green growth
September 8, 2022--Kenya, Morocco and Tunisia have incorporated into their constitutions rights to a clean and safe environment
The African Development Bank and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI have launched a report analysing the readiness of seven countries - Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Gabon and Mozambique- to drive green growth.
The joint report was launched on the sidelines of Africa Climate Week, in Libreville, Gabon. It assessed the status and trends of green growth as well as countries' preparedness for the green growth transition across a number of metrics. It also offered recommendations for the countries surveyed in the report.
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Source: afdb.org
Nigerian Stocks Scrape Fragile Rally As Turnover Drops
August 16, 2022--The all-share index expanded 80 points to close at 49,709.5, while market capitalisation closed higher at N26.8 trillion.
Nigerian stocks inched up 0.2 per cent on Tuesday, the market's first advance since Wednesday, but that does not seem a sure-footed rebound as the number of decliners more than doubled that of gainers.
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Source: allafrica.com
Africa: 9 Out of 10 Africans Likely to Use Made-in-Africa Tech Solutions-Report
August 10, 2022-A new report that includes the surveyed opinions of 4,500 Africans from Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana has revealed that the recent wave of technology innovation coming out of Africa is changing how Africans view the continent, even as it revealed that nine out of 10 Africans (91.7 per cent) are likely to use technology solutions that are made in Africa.
The Africa Innovation Impact Report, which was compiled by Talking Drum Communications, a communications consultancy that works with African technology companies, and Survey54, an artificial intelligence-powered market research company, revealed that, four out of five (84.6 per cent) of Africans stated that recent developments in African technology had impacted the perception of the continent.
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Source: allafrica.com
Nigeria: Economy Grew At 3.4 Percent, Says Ubosieleh Report
August 9, 2022--A new report by Ubosi Eleh & company, an estate and valuer firm, says the nation's economy grew at 3.4% to beat the 3% figure projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Ubosi Eleh & company annual report, now in its third edition, having debuted in 2019, reviewed the real estate situation in 2021.
The 3.4% economic growth was a significant highlight of the 128-page report that described the rate as the fastest and strongest annual rate since 2014 and that it was uncharacteristically driven by the non-oil sector. The report added that Nigeria's GDP grew by 5.01% year on year in the second quarter of 2021.
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Source: allafrica.com
As Africa's digital economy grows, expensive internet hinders investor activity in some countries
July 27, 2022--A new report detailing the cost of mobile data in different markets across the world bears the evidence of why internet use in most of Africa remains low despite the growing broadband internet coverage.
The Worldwide Mobile Pricing 2022 report, which surveyed 233 countries and territories, shows that five of the 10 most expensive countries to buy mobile data in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mobile data is so costly in these countries that 1GB costs at least $10, which is 250 times more expensive than Israel, the country said to have the world's cheapest data.
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Source: techcrunch.com